


Home

by happywitch416



Series: The Tethras Hawkes [21]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age II
Genre: Based on a song, F/M, Fluff, Modern AU, Realizing you are in love, Song writing, i seriously just wanted fluff, its ish modern
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-20
Updated: 2020-06-20
Packaged: 2021-03-04 03:00:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,430
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24816520
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/happywitch416/pseuds/happywitch416
Summary: The moment Rose realized she is in love with Varric.
Relationships: Female Hawke/Varric Tethras
Series: The Tethras Hawkes [21]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/758550
Comments: 2
Kudos: 7





	Home

"Rose? Hawke?" Rose startled as Varric waved a paper in front of her. "Anyone home in there?" She grinned as he took the seat across from her, he looked good in that patch of sun, the light giving a golden glimmer to his hastily tied back hair and days old stubble.

"Thinking up a new song. I have the melody but not all the words this time." She sighed, tapping the paper with her already chewed pencil. “Yet.” She stabbed at the notebook with the pencil before letting it fall against the paper.

"You'll think better with coffee." He flourished as the waitress set the mugs down in front of them. "All the sugar as always. Your teeth are going to fall out drinking that."

She wrapped her hands around the mug and inhaled deeply, her smile going dreamy with her happy sigh. "And this is why I l...like you."

_Oh._

Varric gave her a grin, tugging at the collar of his shirt like he had a medal on his chest. "Of course, I am your favorite. Who else could take my well-earned place, menace?" He flipped open the paper and settled into reading half lounged across the bench, oblivious to her frozen form that was mildly cursing how attractive he was.

If anyone asked, and Isabela had, Varric was always the first one she looked for. The one she never watched her tongue with, be it sarcasm or wit, sorrow or joy. The one that made the dark of night and its terrors less terrible, and the sunshine brighter. He made her feel at home. And right now he made her feel like she was going to burn out of her skin if he so much as looked at her.

_Oh, by the Maker, it is too early for this, Rose Celene Hawke._

She hastily put down the mug that was now burning her fingers. "I um have a job this morning, I'll have to make this coffee to go."

He gave her an arched look over the top of the paper. "Its Tuesday. Even you don't bait Thedas on a Tuesday. And you've missed 3 weeks of our Tuesday breakfasts."

She rolled her eyes with a good-natured grin. "Brunch. Neither of us are up early enough for breakfast. And it's just a little one for Jenny." She stuffed her notebook into her bag, not noticing when it fell out and was left to sit on the seat. She leaned down and brushed her lips against his. "How about dinner? I won't even cook."

He snorted. "I'll see you then."

Rose looked back over her shoulder, the sun framing his head and shoulders. Her hand rested on the door a moment. _Well, at least there is no doubt._

Rose was already out the door when he noticed the notebook still sitting on the cracked red leather bench. Varric wasn’t sure how it was still held together, pages haphazardly bent this way and that, some barely hanging on to the wire. It always looked like it had just lost a fight with the mabari, even when she claimed it was a new one. It wasn't something she was secretive about but it was also something he never pried into, it would be like her nosing through his manuscripts. They left each other's creativity alone. But an open notebook has words that the eyes can't help but read.

Scrawled across the corner was a short note.

_Lead me back home_

_When it's all said and done I'll follow the echoes_

_I hear you night after night calling out my name_

_-Made me think of V, popped in when I was with Bela at the bouncing nug this evening. Never want to come back to Starkhaven. Song maybe? I miss him. Maybe Kirkwall too. Home is home._

A jumble, well to him it looked like a jumble, of bars and notes tilted across the page. Lyrics settled below it, scratched out and erased with some underlined or with exclamation points.

_You are the only one_

_The only one that knows me (too dramatic?)_

_And in the dark you show me (I can hear Bela now, no one can see in the dark songbird)_

_Yeah it's perfectly reckless_

_Damn you leave me defenseless_

_So break in_

Some doodles followed like she was trying to find hidden words on the page with the lead.

_Until it's just your voice in my head_

_And when the lights come on_

_You see me as I am_

_Ugh. Ask Varric maybe? Dumb words._

Varric was on his feet and out the door after her before he had really finished reading, flipping it shut. He gave Mauve a nod on his way out, ignoring her knowing laugh. He caught sight of Rose as she turned the corner ahead of him, heading to the market district. The best place to find her there was at Gabby's stall. _Unless she got distracted by a bookseller._

Varric did let out a breath of relief when he saw her standing there, hair turning red in the sunlight, and fidgeting with some fabric while Gabby talked with a flourish of hands and a bright grin. She gave a little wave when she saw Varric and gave a tilt of her head, making Rose turn.

Her hair had partially slipped free, curls grazing her cheek as her face lit up with a smile.

He held out the notebook. "You left this on the bench, and I know you use it for everything.."

She took it from him with an exasperated noise. "I'd leave my head if it wasn't attached." She kissed his cheek, her nose wrinkly as she grinned before giving a very prim. "Thank you, dear." He shook his head which only widened her grin.

He stayed and chatted with Gabby and Rose until she was done rifling through the clothes and fabrics for her Red Jenny job. They headed out of the market district back toward the Hanged Man where they stopped in the shade of the building.

"Want help?"

"Nah. I am sure you have better ways to spend an afternoon than listening to stuffy businessmen talk." She laughed when he rolled his eyes.

His fingers trailed slowly up her arms as he pulled her closer. "I am not stuffy."

Her laugh was quieter as they kissed and she leaned her forehead against his with a soft smile. "You are many things but stuffy is not one."

"Disembodied voice?"

She startled, jerking back a little to give him a confused look until realization dawned in her eyes. Her whole face wrinkled as her cheeks pinked. "Left open then." She chuckled, gaze avoiding his. "Disembodied voice was not what I was thinking but now that is all I will think about. Thanks."

"Well, you have a good start." His arms tightened around her momentarily, words sticking to the roof of his mouth.

"Varric, I." She trailed off, finally meeting his eyes. She gave herself a little shake, spine straightening. "I think I am" she felt his sharp intake of breath against her own chest, her heart thudding so hard it could have been the beat of a song. She shook her head. "I know I am in love with you."

She waited with bated breath until he cracked into a grin. "I thought with all that you were going to say pregnant." Her eyes closed a moment, but he felt her tremble, either she was going to laugh or cry at that abomination that left his mouth. _So much for being a charmer_. 

She let out a snort. "Varric Tethras, so help me."

He kissed her and her irritation fled on the breeze. One hand cupped her cheek before tangling in her hair. "You already knew I love you."

Rose smiled, her blue eyes crinkling at the corners as she sighed softly. "You already knew too."

"The disembodied voice thing was a surprise."

She let out a disgusted noise, she promptly ruined with a laugh. "I need to go to work." She kissed him again before stepping out of his arms. "But we definitely have something to speak about over dinner."

"Have we ever run out?"

She turned to wave at the end of the building and Varric went in to escape the heat. He settled into a corner table and spread his latest batch of mail before him, his smile never faltering even after the twelfth guild letter and Corff and Norah's good-natured ribbing.

After all, she wasn't the only one who had missed home when she was in Starkhaven.

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Break In by Halestorm


End file.
